After HCL's Manchester United deal, Wipro to wear Chelsea jersey as its digital partner

Leading IT major Wipro will be playing for reigning English Premier League champions Chelsea as its official digital partner.Anirban Sen | ET Bureau | September 04, 2015, 10:25 IST

English Premier League champions Chelsea FC has hired Wipro to enhance its digital engagement with fans, after rival football club Manchester United handed out a similar outsourcing contract to another Indian firm, HCL Technologies.

Wipro will help Chelsea improve the quality of fan experience in the stadium, communicate with fans through digital channels and sell merchandise on its website. Financial terms of the three-year deal weren't disclosed.

“There will be two specific areas we will be working in - firstly, Chelsea is very keen to increase the quality of fan experience in the stadium. You call it connected stadium, you call it digital experience -and that's key to them. And we will be working to enhance that. Secondly, they are very keen to stay engaged with their fans when they are not in the stadium,“ Wipro Digital head Rajan Kohli said in an interview.

Wipro will also help the football club, which has more than 50 million supporters in India, increase their fan base in countries like India, where interest for football is topped only by cricket.

“We will be thinking through to how we can stay connected to these fans, what is it that they want to hear from Chelsea, what are the best ways for this experience to be made richer. And thirdly ... they're deeply interested in increasing their fan base -so we will be looking at digital ways to help them increase their fan base,“ said Kohli.

Jose Mourinho-managed Chelsea currently counts the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa amongst its popular top players. Wipro will help the club communicate with fans through digital channels and share news on players.

Kohli, who previously served as head of banking and financial services at Wipro, said the company may even explore a revenuesharing model With Chelsea in future where Wipro's share of revenue from the contract will be directly linked to the increase in the number of fans for Chelsea.